The Prophetic Anointing

Excerpt from Prophetic Anointing - Anointed to Worship

Without the anointing, you cannot fulfill the work that God has given you to do.
I do not think that any minister of the Word would disagree with me
there. What you might not know, as one called as a prophet though, is
that when the Lord called you to do His work, the anointing was part of
the parcel that you received. Consider this passage:Luke 4: 18 The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he has
anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the
brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of
sight to the blind, to set at liberty those that are bruised,
In other words, if the Lord has called you to do a work, He has given you the power that you need to fulfill it as well.
I see so many praying for the anointing, as if it is something that
the Lord would deliberately withhold from you.You need to change your
thinking. The anointing and your calling are a complete package.
Key Principle: When the Lord called you, He gave you the anointing you needed to fulfill that call.
When this principle sinks in, you can spend less time asking God to
anoint you, and more time asking how to walk in His anointing by faith.
Many have a strange idea about the anointing though. They think of it
as something that comes and goes. You imagine that the Lord anoints you
just once, but then you must qualify for it again, and again.
Well, to a certain extent, that was true in days gone by. Before
Christ came - that is exactly what it was like when you needed the
anointing. The Holy Spirit descended on a great man of faith, and then
left him once the work was done.
Samson was a great example of this. The anointing would come upon him
suddenly, and when that happened, he accomplished incredible feats.
Once the anointing left him though, he was weak once again.
That is because Jesus had not yet died for our sins! Man was
contaminated through sin. They had to sacrifice often to atone and
“cover over” the sin in their lives. And so a very righteous God could
not reside with a very sinful man.
I often wonder to myself how hard it must have been in those days.
They had to keep the law using their will alone. They did not have the
Holy Spirit within to make right choices. They had to wait for God to
"come upon them" before they felt Him.
No wonder the coming of Christ was such a mind-blowing change of
thinking for the Early Church. For the first time, the anointing came…
and remained!1 John 2:27 But the anointing that you received from him remains
in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you: but as the same
anointing teaches you about all things, and is true, and is not a lie,
and just as it has taught you, you will abide in him.
I love this passage. John tells us here, that the anointing that they
received did not leave! It did not "come upon" and then "lift" from
them again, and again.
Instead of having to push through with pure willpower, they had a
"big brother" in their corner by the name of the Holy Spirit. For the
first time ever, a righteous God could dwell within a sinful man – all
because of the blood of Christ that washes away our sin.
When you understand this concept, you will not ask God again to "give
you the anointing again" but you will ask Him to increase what you
already have. You will ask Him for wisdom to use what is already in your
spirit.Then just as this scripture above says, that very anointing will
teach you what you need to do to fulfill your purpose.
In the next couple of chapters we are going to look at the New
Testament prophet. For it is the anointing that differentiates the Old
from the New Testament prophet quite considerably.
In the Old Testament, the prophet had to wait for God to suddenly
come upon him before he could speak. The same is not true of the New
Testament prophet.
Instead, when God calls and anoints you, He deposits that anointing
right inside of your spirit. That means you carry it with you everywhere
you go.
Now that does not mean that it is "your" anointing. It simply means
that you have a reserve of power in your spirit that the Holy Spirit can
use when He pleases. He does not need to wait for you to be “righteous”
according to the flesh, but He just needs to wait until you are
available.
Keep these simple principles in mind as we look in greater detail at
what we now have in Christ. You will learn that not only do we still
have the external anointing just like they had in the Old Testament, but
that we now have the internal anointing, which is depicted as streams
of living water.
This anointing is what sets you apart as a prophet. So let’s teach
you to tap into it, so that you can gush over the Church and bring it to
life!

Chapter 01

The Prophetic Anointing Defined

The first thing you need to know is that you already have the
prophetic anointing. If God has called you to the prophetic ministry,
you already have within you the anointing to get the job done.
That is the easy part. You know, so many people are confused. They
think that they have to hop from conference to conference to get the
prophetic anointing. No, you already have it. The part that is difficult
is learning to identify it and then to flow in it correctly. Defining the AnointingJohn 7:38 He that believes in me, out of his inward parts will flow rivers of living water.
As a child I was really blessed. I grew up living near many
recreational parks. My father, quite the adventurer, loved to take us
out on weekends to visit these parks.
There was one in particular that he liked to take us to. With its
rolling hills, it was the perfect place for some time alone. The best
part of all though, was the meandering river that cut through the hills
from one end to the other.
We would head out early, and spread our blanket out on the soft,
fragrant grass. A picnic would follow with lots of goodies. After we
were done, we would pack up, put all our stuff back in the car, and then
we would go walking. The Bubbling Brook
We would find the river and follow it as much as we could. We would
explore and see what there was to find: trees, stones, hidden ditches or
bridges. It was fun to seek out the perfect skipping stone to send
skimming over the water.
Even though this was years ago, just speaking about it, I can smell
the fresh soil and the plant life next to the river. I can hear the
sound of the water making a gentle chuckle as it flows over the rocks.
It is as real to me as if I went there yesterday. Each time I bring
this memory to mind, it brings with it that familiar feeling of peace.
The picture I painted is the perfect illustration of the prophetic
anointing. It is like a gentle, bubbling brook that brings peace, joy
and rest. It is not a mighty waterfall that comes splashing, picking you
up and tossing you around. No, that is the external anointing and that
comes by the will of God alone.
The prophetic anointing is something entirely different. It is a
gentle bubbling that originates from deep within you. If you would just
stop for a moment, you would come to realize that you have been
experiencing this for some time.
Perhaps you have been comparing yourself to other ministers and feeling a little insecure. The Mighty Waterfall – The External Anointing
You look at all these big revivalists and they bring a mighty
outpouring of the Spirit. People talk about the "fire" and the "water,"
and people are getting slain in the spirit in their meetings. You see
healings, miracles, shakings and a whole bunch of other stuff going on.
You take a step back and think, "Wow!"
You compare yourself to them and when you look inside, you think, "Here I stand with just my little bubbling brook."
You know, I had the opportunity to go to the Rheinfall in
Switzerland. It is the largest waterfall in Europe. It is absolutely
magnificent. The sound of the water is so loud that you have to shout at
one another to be heard.
It roars in your ears. A fine mist covers the whole river because of
the intensity at which the water hits the lake with below. It is
incredible.
I have been there a few times to visit, and each time has been
wonderful, but I didn’t spend hours there. You can only spend so long
staring at a waterfall, and well… you have seen a waterfall. It is
wonderful, it is magnificent and I take the experience home with me, but
it is a place I have visited as a tourist only once or twice.Waterfall vs. Brook
By comparison, as a child, when we went to the bubbling brook, I
could sit there for hours just quietly taking in the sounds and smells.
That sound refreshed my spirit. I could go back again, and again and
never grow weary of it.
It is great to have the great outpourings. We need them to be refreshed from time to time, but you can’t live there. Tapping Into the Anointing
What you have is an anointing that people can take home with them.
That when touched by it, continues to work within them. It is the kind
of anointing that I spoke about in the introduction from 1 John 2:27. It
is an anointing that abides.
You don't take a bucket of water and splash the water on their heads.
Rather you are releasing a bubbling brook into their spirits. You will
bring the spirit inside of them to life! It is an anointing that will
continue to bubble and flow like a beautiful spring that will come up
and feed them again and again.What It Feels Like
So when you experience the anointing, realize that it is going to
bubble from deep inside. I feel it right in the pit of my stomach. I
feel it sometimes like butterflies. It is like the feeling you get the
night before Christmas when you were hoping to get that "special
something." You lay in bed at night and you were so excited. Your
stomach did flips and you couldn't sleep - you couldn't eat. Well,
that's how I felt the night before I got married. I couldn't sleep the
whole night. I was so excited and terrified all at the same time.
That is what the internal anointing feels like. Now the first time
that you experience it, it is probably going to be pretty strong. Yes,
there are many different manifestations of the anointing, but I am just
just covering the prophetic anointing here.
It may start very strong at the beginning, or perhaps very gentle. It
will nudge you from deep within saying, "Hello, remember me? I am here,
I want to tell you something." That’s the Holy Spirit speaking inside
of you. How to Identify It
To hear that gentle voice you need to shut up. I know that you hear
me telling you to do that a lot, but by the end of this series you will
be used to me saying it. That is because as prophets, we either do not
know how, or find it really hard to sit quietly instead of shouting our
mouths off.
Key Principle: You need to learn to be quiet long enough to hear the voice of the Lord within.
You will feel this anointing as a gentle stirring. The Holy Spirit is
not going to run up to you, slap you on the side of the head and say,
"Prophesy."

It doesn't happen that way. He is going to gently remind you, and
that reminder is going to come from deep down inside. You are not living
in Old Testament times when the Lord had to wait for you to be
righteous before He could come upon you. Now He can speak to you from
within your spirit any time that He pleases. Your part in this
conversation is to be silent long enough to hear Him.How to Tap Into the Anointing
How are you going to tap into it? We know we have this river of
living water inside of us, and sometimes you even feel it. Now, what do
you do with it?
You need to realize that releasing this anointing is very much the
same as journaling. I have already taken you through the whole process
of decreeing, and journaling in the Prophetic Functions book. I will also teach you about intercession later on in this book.
So, by now you should be familiar with the stirring you feel inside
your belly. When you start to journal it feels slow, but the more you
write, the easier it gets. The anointing starts to flow and the words
flow faster than you can type - faster than you can speak. You feel that
bubbling coming up inside of you.
Well, that is the prophetic anointing that you have been
experiencing! You have been experiencing it all along. Now you need to
learn to use it when ministering. 1. Make Yourself Available
The first thing you need to do is make yourself available. Say now,
you are in a meeting, or somebody comes to you for prayer. You can only
say, "Lord, I am a vessel. I have got your living waters inside of me. I
open up my mouth and it is for you to fill it."
Key Principle: You tap into the anointing by making yourself available, desiring to be used by the Lord, and by stepping out in faith.2. Faith is the Key
You can learn to flow in the spirit this way. Once you identify the
river of living water inside of you, you can trigger it by faith at any
time. If I make a conscious effort to stop and tap into the anointing, I
can release that anointing any time I desire, because I am a prophet.
Now keep in mind that I am speaking about the anointing here, and
not the gifts of the Spirit! The gifts are only manifested by the Holy
Spirit. However, when those gifts do manifest, if you act in faith, the
anointing will follow.

Key Principle: The gifts: manifested as the Holy Spirit wills.The anointing that brings the revelation to pass: released by your faith.

When you reach prophetic office, you are going to realize that the anointing is available to you at any time.
3. It Remains in Your Spirit.
There are times though when people come to you and you need to tap into that anointing fast.
People sometimes need ministry at the most inconvenient times! The
doorbell rings, and you just had a fight with your spouse, the house is a
mess, you messed up at work that day, you stubbed your toe, and then
tripped over the dog on your way to answer the door.
There, standing in front of you, is someone saying, "Please could you pray for me?"
With an incredulous intake of breath, you think, "Are you kidding me,
Lord? The last thing I feel right now is your power. I had a horrible
day, and I don’t feel very spiritual at all at the moment."
Well then, just as well, the anointing is not dependent on you, hey? Thank goodness it depends on the Holy Spirit.
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